1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying a rod-shaped article, and more particularly, to a cigarette supplying apparatus suited to supply cigarettes one by one to an automatic cigarette quality measuring apparatus.
2. Related Arts
In order to measure the weight, stiffness, length, ventilation resistance and the like of a respective cigarette with use of an automatic cigarette quality measuring apparatus, a cigarette supplying apparatus for supplying rod-shaped cigarettes, as test pieces, one by one to a measuring section of the measuring apparatus is required. A rod-shaped article supplying apparatus of this kind is known from and disclosed in Japanese provisional patent publication no. 1-132916 the arrangement of which is schematically shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in the upper part of FIG. 1, a cylinder 1 is disposed to face a supply port 3a of a hopper 3 in which cigarettes 4 are reserved. The cylinder is formed at its outer peripheral face with cigarette receiving portions la each of which is formed into a slot adapted to receive a single cigarette. As the cylinder 1 rotates, cigarettes 4 located near the supply port 3a are received in the receiving portions in sequence and are transferred in the direction of cylinder rotation. Finally, these cigarettes 4 fall from the cigarette receiving portions 1a and are supplied to the cigarette quality measuring apparatus.
As cigarettes 4 are transferred one, by one in this manner, cigarettes 4 stacked in the hopper 3 gradually drop to the supply port 3a due to their own weight.
However, the above-mentioned rod-shaped article supplying apparatus entails a so-called shelf-forming phenomenon in which cigarettes are lodged in the hopper at locations above the supply port.
More specifically, when a cigarette 4a is received in a cigarette receiving slot 1a, the space occupied by this cigarette becomes empty, as shown in the middle part of FIG. 1. As a consequence, cigarettes 4b, 4e and 4f located near the empty space move thereto, and cigarettes 4c, 4d, 4g, 4h and 4i located above the cigarettes 4b, 4e and 4f attempt to move downward.
During the downward movement of these cigarettes, interactions between adjacent cigarettes or between a cigarette and the inner face of the hopper 3 can produce resultant forces which cause some cigarettes to be linked together. In this case, the shelf-forming phenomenon takes place among cigarettes 4d, 4h and 4i, for instance, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 1. This causes cigarettes 4 to be lodged in the hopper 3 and prevents them from reaching the supply port 3a, resulting in a failure in cigarette supply.
In order to avoid such a cigarette supply failure, the number of cigarettes received in the hopper may be reduced. This entails a drawback in that an operation of supplying cigarettes into the hopper must be made frequently.
In cigarette manufacturing processes, a cigarette supplying apparatus is employed in which a cigarette stirring/shaking device is provided in the hopper or near the supply port so as to prevent the occurrence of a shelf-forming phenomenon or destruction of a shelf of cigarettes formed in the hopper.
For a cigarette supplying apparatus for cigarette quality measurement, the size of the support port must be reduced so as to permit cigarettes to be supplied one by one to the cigarette quality measuring apparatus. Since a space available for installation of the cigarette quality measuring apparatus is usually limited, the overall size of the cigarette supplying apparatus attached to the cigarette quality measuring apparatus is naturally restricted.
For these reasons, it is practically impossible, especially from the viewpoint of space, to provide the cigarette supplying apparatus of the cigarette quality measuring apparatus with a stirring means of a kind which is employed in cigarette manufacturing processes.
Since the shelf-forming phenomenon may take place not only at locations in the vicinity of the supply port but also at the center or upper part of the hopper, a cigarette supplying apparatus has been demanded which is capable of making a stirring action over the entire space in the hopper with use of a device which is compact in size.